


finn!

by Gollawalla



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2018-09-03 00:06:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8688868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gollawalla/pseuds/Gollawalla
Summary: finncentric one-shots





	1. free day

As a concept, ‘free time’ was a new thing to Finn. With both the previously oppressive schedule in the First Order and now his stay in the medical wing (spent doped up on painkillers), there just wasn’t any free time for him. At all.  
During this transitional time for the entire Rebel base, where everyone is doing too much and not enough at the same time, Finn feels like he is probably the only one who was doing absolutely nothing at all.  
At first it was pretty enjoyable, really fun— like, wow. I really don’t have do _anything_. Not one single responsibility but the challenge of letting his body heal. Which is easy, you just sit there and let it, yknow, heal.

Though after a while, Finn felt restless. Jittery. The books and the movies Poe let him borrow are cool, interesting, exciting— all the history and culture he’d been denied, now right at his fingertips. But everybody is moving around, and doing things, and helping. And he’s just sitting here. Watching movies. Reading books. Sometimes looking out the window.  
If he really thinks about it, he is doing things; he’s learning, he’s healing. But he wants to do something tangible, he wants to help.  
He keeps finding himself getting shooed out of rooms, being ‘watch out’-ed and ‘excuse me’-d. It happens over and over, more and more but he can’t bring himself to stop trying to help.

“Finn,” the tall, feathered canine-looking beast rumbles, “Please. Move out the way, I’m begging you.”  
“I’m sorry.” He says, a bit cross, to the beast. 

“Sorry ‘bout that.” He says to 3-PO, backing out of his way. 

“Excuse me, sorry.” He says to Jess, moving around her.

Jessika stops him with a hand on his shoulder and a worried expression, “Finn. Hey, hold up. You okay?”  
“Yeah, yeah. I’m alright.”  
She looks at him.  
He looks at her, then he looks at the side of her head, then over her shoulder.  
She shoves him, “Hey.”  
“Yeah, yeah.”  
“Don’t ‘yeah, yeah’ me, Finn.” She says with a frown, “You can hang out with us, if— yknow, if you want to.”

She’s giving him an out, he can see that from a mile away. He has the vague thought that she wouldn’t even be a little upset if he said no; but really, he has absolutely nothing else to do.  
A little uncomfortable with the smile automatically spreading on his face, he mumbles, “Yeah, uh yeah sure.”  
She smiles and scrunches up her nose at him. 

\--  
Oil, rubber, dirt, and more oil, the assorted smells of the hanger stick to the inside of his nostrils. It reminds him vaguely of the times he would walk past the large doors of the landing dock on Starkiller Base. There was always the rhythmic stomping of armored bodies, the whirring of machinery, the mechanical and human sounds of his fellow stromtr— no, his fellow people. Doing what they were told.  
Here was something a bit familiar, but the Resistance had more talking, and a lot more smiling. 

In their circle, however, Nien Nunb’s large, beady eyes make him uncomfortable. He was telling a story of his land—Snap graciously translating it for Finn—but at first he couldn’t really focus on the words, just those eyes.  
Nien’s big ears twitch as he talks, like he can hear what Finn is thinking. He hopes he doesn’t. 

“Uh, and…” Snap says to him after Nien pauses for his translation, “Sullust. It’s got scavenging birds and they call em…what. Oh! Oh yeah, I remember this— they call em Ash Angels. And they eat... _lava_!” His eyes widen and his brows raise in emphasis.  
Finn can’t stop his surprise. “Oh, whoa what?” Organic creatures eating lava? Amazing!  
Nien chortles, shakes his head.  
“I don’t know about all that.” Jess interrupts, and some of the pilots around them grin and chuckle. 

When it’s time for most of them return to work, Finn decides to leave, give them the out this time so they can do what they have to do without worrying about him.  
As he gets up to go, Nien jostles his shoulder and jabbers something to him. He doesn’t understand it until Jess clarifies, “He said you ain’t so bad.” Nien nods pretty heavily, making noises of agreement. Finn imagines he would be smiling like a human if his anatomy allowed him to.  
Outside of the hangar, his chest is still filled with something warm, little winged insects flap in his stomach. He's not used to something like this. It's weird, not a bad weird, just strange. 

\--  
He’s got warm grass under his palms, blueish-orangeish sky above him, happy feelings in his chest. Jess said earlier that she could find something for him to do tomorrow, if he was up to it.  
Now that it’s almost over, Finn feels like he could have done more today. What more? He doesn’t know, but could’ve done something. Maybe could’ve introduced himself a bit more to Nien, maybe could’ve made C-3PO laugh, he’d heard it was very, very hard to do, but not impossible. 

People and not-quite-people still walk and trample and slither and skip around him, he’s glad nobody seems to mind him sitting on the ground. Some even sit on ground in groups away from him, talking, smiling, friendly when he looks towards them.  
Maybe they were trying to invite him over, wanted to see if he was as stupid as Troopers are known to be. Maybe. Maybe not. He looks down at the grass and plucks it, bites at the inside of his cheek. 

“What’s up, hotshot?”  
He looks up to see Poe leaning against the wall above him, smiling down at him.  
“Nothin.” He grins back, but can’t ignore how goofy he sounded saying it. 

BB8 whirs at him and Finn takes it as a greeting, says hello when it bumps against his arm. The bot then whirrs at Poe, and Poe knocks it gently with the tip of his boot, “See ya later, bud.”  
BB8 rolls off as Poe grunts and lowers himself down to the ground— always so dramatic, he’s not even that old. 

Finn says as much, rolling the heel of his foot along the ground when Poe grins at him.  
“Well, yknow. I’ve got an old spirit.” Poe pats his own chest, smack-dab in the middle. 

Of course that makes sense, “What’d you do all day?” Finn asks him.  
“ _Nothin_.” Poe imitates his voice from earlier, laughs when Finn purses his lips, “I should be asking you that.”

Finn shrugs, “Talked to Jess, talked to Snap. Uh, talked to Nien and 3PO. I almost got trampled too, by some lady, she was like a kriffing...canine-thing. But it wasn't her fault, I was the one hovering around her feet like I was her little kid or something— she said that too.”  
He laughs at what that might look like, a human like him following around a giant canine beast, it’d be like one of those movies he’d watched earlier. 

When he looks over at Poe, Poe is smiling at him, interested in what he’s saying, so he asks, “What really even is that species, the one that looks like a big, feathered canine?”  
“I don’t know what she is, but, if I’m remembering right, I think her name is Va...Vanel or somethin.”  
“Huh. Well, Vanel is really, kinda...interesting-looking. Never seen a canine with feathers before. Never seen much a canine at all, actually. Just like, in passing. And on diagrams n shit.”

There's a ripple of laughter from the group seated away from them. He wonders what they’re talking about. BB8’s still rolling off in the distance, and now Finn can see that he’s moving towards 3PO, who already seems to be fussing at the little droid.

The question comes out immediately, “You ever heard 3PO laugh before?”  
Poe follows his gaze, looks thoughtful for a second. “Nah, actually…I heard nobody’s made 3PO laugh since, like, before the galaxy came around.” 

Finn huffs, “Huh.”  
“You trying to get him to laugh?”  
“Passively.”  
“Passively?” Poe looks at him incredulously, “What is that supposed to mean!”  
Finn doesn’t really have an explanation, so he just grins until Poe shakes his head at him. 

It’s getting late, the blueish-orangish color of the sky turning pinkish-orangish-blueish; pilots of all sorts come by, heading to the mess hall for dinner. When Nien walks by, he tips his head at Finn. Jess waves at them both. Snap smirks at Poe, knocks his boot at the bottom of Finn’s feet.  
BB8 comes back eventually, beeping at them incessantly till they get up to go eat. Poe knocks their shoulders together as they get up, grunts extra loud, even cracks his back when he stands up straight. So dramatic. 

Poe blabbers to him as they get their food, steers him towards the pilot’s table when they have it— seems to think Finn doesn’t notice. He likes it though, he’s found that he likes having a free day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Nien Nunb is ugly as fuck like a soggy burrito but I looked him up and apparently he's a flyboy from a lava planet?? And I was like what in the goddamn!
> 
> Idk, he's ugly but he's pretty cool. Kind of like how Finn is BEAUTIFUL and cool, yknow
> 
> edit 22 april 2017: i fixed some stuff


	2. found in translation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn rubs his head, the sequence of beeps and whirs when conjugated into his language is obvious, it's meant to be pronoun-verb-pronoun. But droids follow a sequence of verb-pronoun-pronoun. The action always precedes the subject.
> 
> The only problem is that the direct translation escapes him.
> 
> WARNING: this is cheesy as HELL lol

“Vrrrwhoop-zoop zoop!” It says.

“You….uh…”

After a moment of silence, BB8 repeats itself, “vvvrrrwhoop! Zoop zoop!”

“BeeBee….I think know the first part actually. ‘you something something’.”

BB8 rolls in a circle, “vvvrrrwhoop!” It repeats

Finn rubs his head, the sequence of beeps and whirs when conjugated into his language is obvious, it's meant to be pronoun-verb-pronoun. But droids follow a sequence of verb-pronoun-pronoun. The action always precedes the subject.

The only problem is that the direct translation escapes him.

“Can you say it again?”

“Vvvvvrrrwhoop. Zoop. Zoop.”

(verb) I….you

“You...something...me?”

BB8 twirls rapidly, sounds of joy escaping it, making Finn full of happiness and pride.

“Okay, okay,” he says excitedly, “Yeah, I got this. Okay.”

He thinks. “Can you repeat that again?”

“Vvvrrrwhoop! Zoop. Zoop.”

“L….love?”

BB8 trills loudly, it's body twirling in a circle while it's lens stays focused on Finn. When it settles to a stop, it bobs its head up and down once.

“You love me?”

“Vvvvrrwhoop! Zoop zoop!” [I love you!]

Finn coughs, his chest suddenly filled with something heavy, a smile plasters itself to his face. BB8 loves him!

“You–” he laughs, “You love me!”

BB8 twirls, “Vvvrrrwhoop! Zoop zoop!! Vvvrrwhoop! Zoop zoop!” [I love you!! I love you!]

Finn feels a bubbly feeling that pushes out another sound of joy from his throat. BB8 zips in a ragged circle around him, lens stuck to his face the whole time.

Later, when they have finished their short session, BB8 zooms straight down the hallway towards maintenance. Finn wasn't sure if the droid actually needed it, but it was always excited to go there. Maintenance must feel pretty good if it brought so much energy out from BB8.

Actually, can droids really feel anything? Can they love anything, like how BB8 said it loved him?

Maybe? Maybe not the same way that organic creatures felt and loved things, but BB8 knew what it accepted and what it did not. Just like everyone else.

But what he is pretty sure of, is that the feeling that came over him when he realized it accepted _him_ was definitely something like love.


	3. the big deal awakens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The resistance cares about their Big Deals!!

The breath he sucks in is like magic. It flows through his body rushing fast and fierce like water, waking his comatose brain and slowly, slowly opening his eyes.  
At first it's a shock, not only does his body feel warm and bright with the sun streaming through glass and kissing his skin— he’s not in the forest. The desolate, freezing forest, with beasts in human skin and a scavenger’s body thrown against the ground, tumbled over herself like discarded clothing.

He barely registers that he is under glass, almost as if he’s on display, but the heat of the sun and maybe something else lulls him to a shallow sleep.

Bright, bright shine phases through his eyelids, waking him up brightly and full of energy he had no idea he could have. Unlike before, there is no shining glass separating him and the world, just fresh air flowing into whatever he is laying in. As he blinks he can hear the noise and shuffle of droids and organic creatures outside of this room he is in, an intense curiosity gives him the strength to slowly raise his arm— pin needles poking incessantly at his muscle as blood flows through— and grasp the side of the pod. 

He slowly lifts himself up, blinking rapidly to ward off the setting sun shining directly into his eyes. All around him the world clears to be what looks like...a hospital room. 

He turns slightly, very slowly, his neck and back outrageously sore, preventing him from moving too much. But there’s no way he could possibly miss the flowers piled on a table across from his resting place, the vivid colors draw his attention immediately. He notices things wrapped in paper lying next to the flowers and those too are stacked on one another like there was not enough room. 

The sheer number of all these...offerings is hard for him to even begin to contextualize. 

He drops his head into his hands, and realizes he’s smiling. 

Immediately his chest blossoms with feelings of bright and warm happiness, his smile aches his face where it stretches wide. Out comes a laugh, “Wow.” he says, “wow”

He glances up, but drops his head back down in his hands, too overwhelmed to do anything but smile.


	4. What a trooper!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn has some realizations  
> Its a really short chapter
> 
> Warning: Finn essentially has a panic attack

The cadets draw their weapons in unison, a far too familiar sight, which starts a churning in his gut— and their targets, masked stormtrooper cut outs, make his head pound.

He hadn't really thought of this when he escaped.

Well? What did he expect? They kill troopers like fodder, because that's what he— they are— fodder. But,

He can't ignore the pounding in his head, the churning in his gut. He can't ignore the panic it becomes when the cadets smile as they hit their marks.


	5. Detour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They take a detour

“Hey Finn, hey man, hey buddy...wanna check out this crazy planet?”

Poe stares at him in the face, brightly, as if the expanse of space can't possibly wait for a better time. His hand hovers over the console which Finn knows by now means ‘hyperspeed’.

“Dont we have to head back soon?” Finn says. And they do. He’s been keeping track. 

“It’ll be fine. Just for a few minutes” 

Finn stares out at the planet, it's clouds, whatever, form a layer of white— he can't see anything past that. It makes a tick tock go off in his brain. 

“Okay” his mind says to his mouth, trying to drown out the ticking, the fear. 

Poe looks like he wants to shout, but he just settles for a big grin. He starts eagerly click-clacking at the dashboard, and they're off in a blink.

~  
Finn pushes off his seat, twirling his hands at the thought of setting foot in the cold, or the warm but still white, whatever odds and ends this particular planet has to offer. Just outside the ship's door is something he doesn't but still does want to know more about— oh the curiosity. Not exactly new but not exactly old either.

The door shutters open and the planet is exposed to him in all its glory.

On its surface, the white film he saw covering from its orbit was actually nothing but a layer of particles, not snow. Nothing cold. His chest expands and he can breathe easier immediately. 

Another easy breath when he doesn't immediately die of radiation sickness or skin-melting-off syndrome, or some other kind of ‘not-my-planet’ sickness (even though Poe wouldn't really do that to him…maybe...well, hopefully not) Poe totters about in front of him before he can set foot out the ship and presents his arm to him. 

He stands there until Finn looks him in the eyes, “Yeah?” he says, arm held up awkwardly. 

Finn shrugs and takes his arm, and the help down two steps to the ground.

...the way his feet sink just more so than usual into the ground— that's new. He must be heavier here, maybe a different person, if he was inclined to think in that sort of way. 

“Finn, have you ever seen a particle body?”  
“Particle— what does that mean.” 

“Means I lay on the ground and, well, if I get up it stays there, and it looks just like me— or at least it's supposed to.”

“Oh, you mean a particle-formation of the human persuasion?.” 

“That's a whole lotta words for particle body...” He shrugs, “Whatever, same concept, watch this.”

Poe turns towards him and drops on his bottom, then lets his torso fall back— bumping his head hard as, as...Finn doesn't even know what to compare it to. It almost bounces off the ground. Poe's face gets bright red for half a second before he starts flailing his arms and legs slightly to make the formation underneath him. Finn grits his teeth and doesn't say anything.

When he's done and gets up, his back is covered in dusty particles, and his face is still a little puffy and red from hitting his head. He coughs and says, a little high pitched, “What do you think?” 

In the ground is what he expected, a body in the dirt with smears where the arms are supposed to be, and where the legs are supposed to be. Where the head is supposed to be has a deeper indent.

“It's cool” Finn says, unsure what else to say, “it looks like you” he pauses, “a little underwhelming though” 

“Underwhelming! Why underwhelming?” 

“I thought it would be some kind of three dimensional thing, like the planet would create some kind of, shape— I don't know. That's what the name sounds like at least. It's still cool though.” 

“Oh. Well if that's what you were expecting then I can see why it would be underwhelming.” 

“Yeah” its quiet for a good five seconds before Finn, with it burning against his cheeks, has to say what's on his mind, he just has to, “I-it's real deep where you hit your head though, so that makes it even more cool” 

Once again Poe’s face shines a bright red, “Damn.” he scratches at his head, “I was really hoping you didn't notice”

A laugh bubbles out of Finn's chest, “I didn't want to say anything—” He adds an “I swear!” for emphasis when Poe glances at him like _yeah right_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what a loser.....am i right


End file.
